


Genius of Love

by catmac



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alcohol, Canon typical drug use, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Swearing, sabotages of cute relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-07 05:56:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12834738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catmac/pseuds/catmac
Summary: "No, we didn't date. Technically he wasn't an ex-boyfriend. But he was an ex-something, an ex-maybe. An ex-almost. "- Unknown.Mac tries to move on but Dennis keeps on pulling him back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is work in progress so I'll add the tags properly as we go!

**I.**

It has been a couple of weeks since Dennis left Philly and Mac still can’t get used to the empty apartment. The rent is paid for now but he will have to find a new roommate eventually. Well, in case Dennis doesn’t come back. Will he? Nobody is sure what is really going on but nobody calls and asks. That’s now how things work. They aren’t that kind of people. People who ‘care’.

But the décor of the apartment is a perfect copy of their old place. Mac is questioning his decorating decisions now. It all just feels like a giant stab to his back and heart to look at everything which is now only a memento of his former life and a reminder of how his best friend ditched him. For a good reason perhaps but that doesn’t make things better. Mac also doesn’t bother buying another bed. Not that he has money for it anyway but what for if it is just him now and he can keep sleeping in Dennis’ bed.

* * *

 

“Dude, do you think you could ask Rex to come with us tomorrow,” Charlie asks while drawing furiously with his crayons a chalks something that is supposed to be a plan of the action. The gang is planning on doing a heist because they all watched Oceans’ Eleven the night before and Frank mentioned he has a beef with a liquor store owner.

“What? Why?” Rex is Mac’s ‘work out buddy’ now as he likes to call it. He is a chill dude who doesn’t talk too much but his presence is a nice distraction. Plus he gives Mac some legitimate advice on work out, diet and looks good while doing so. And he lets him use his gym membership. And kisses him sometimes but that is beside the point.

“Because he is giant, dude! We need that muscle,” Charlie continues, raising his picture to Mac’s eye level. It looks as confusing as what would you assume inside of Charlie’s head looks like probably. Mac furrows his brows trying to make sense of what he is supposed to see there.

Charlie only sighs frustratingly. “Here dude. This is the muscle part. We need you to help us carry out the booze. Dee will be guarding and Frank will pick the lock. Somebody needs to drive the car.” Mac nods.

“Which is another thing,” Charlie continues while pointing at box shape drawn in bright red crayon, “we need a car. You said Rex has one.”

It really wasn’t a smart move to blow up Dennis’ Range Rover but Mac oddly doesn’t regret it at all so he just looks at Charlie considering his options. Pushing his relationship with Rex this far doesn’t seem right for some reason. It feels too soon. Like he is filling up a spot that truly cannot be filled. To give himself some time to think he reaches for the beer bottle and takes a gulp of the bitter liquid. It feels common and reassuring.

“Okay, Charlie. Just shut up about Rex already.”

“Why? Aren’t you like a _buddy-buddy_ type of thing now,” Charlie sways in weird motion as if to represent what he means better. Mac knows that Charlie is not always as stupid as it seems but he still feels like deflecting any questions about his personal life is the way to go.

“Yeah. So? It’s not like you give a shit about working out. I did ask you to go with me, remember? You said no. So I took Rex instead since he is the only one who cares about physique.”

Charlie scoffs and retreats back to his papers. “Oh yeah, man gym is not for me. I get my work out while bashing the rats and changing the kegs.”

“That’s not… that is not work out in any way. You know what, never mind. Just get off my back already. I’ll get us the car and a driver.”

Charlie doesn’t press the matter any further and just scribbles something on papers while letting Mac finish his beer.

Mac doesn’t want the gang to feel like they are lost because of some lousy car that burned to ashes. He is now the leader basically (well, he has always been) so he will get what is needed for the heist. Glass beer bottle clanks on the counter which brings Charlie’s attention back.

“Wait a second. When I am carrying out the booze, Frank is picking the lock and Dee is guarding… What are you going to do Charlie?”

The smug grin on his face tells Mac that he won’t like the answer.

“I am going to slowly descend from the ceiling on a harness.”

“What are you talking about? That is not from Ocean’s Eleven but from Mission Impossible. You got your movies mixed up dude. ”

“Whatever. It is still going to be badass.”

“It would be badass if it worked and if it did work I would be the one doing it because I am the most badass and also the leader.”

Charlie scoffs. “No way. You are too heavy! We would need a crane, not a harness.”

“ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT!?”

But before Charlie gets to explain that he really doesn’t mean weight in that way, Dee walks in and ends the discourse.

Both Mac and Charlie are staring at her with their eyes wide open. It rarely happens that they would care so deeply about Dee. At least Mac doesn’t but this time they can’t stop looking at her. Mac is the first one to talk about the elephant in the room.

“Jesus fucking Christ. What did you do to your hair?”

Dee’s hand runs upwards and curls one of her locks around her finger with a smile on her face. Lock of hair which is now, mind you, bright orange.

“Nice right? I wanted to get closer to my character,” she says proudly still grinning at them.

“What character? A CARROT?!” Charlie squeaks shifting his voice to the all capslock gear.

“No! Julia Robert’s character in Ocean’s Eleven you dickhead.”

“Are you IN-SANE!! How are we supposed to go undercover when you are shinning like a traffic light! I need to redraw all my plans because now your hair color doesn’t match the drawings and I already ate the orange chalk so I don’t know how I am going to do it.”

Mac spaces out and takes his phone out. He is not in a mood to deal with Dee right now and it seems that Charlie is voicing all his concerns anyway.

Rex says yes.

 

**II.**

“Dennis, you need to get your ass over here.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I am telling you that you need to come over to Philly…”

The beeping sound of the dial tune tells Dee that her brother doesn’t bother to listen to the rest of what she has to say. Typical. Her fingers frustratingly swipe the touchscreen again and give it a second shot. Dennis snaps at her immediately when he picks up but Dee doesn’t expect anything else from him.

“What!!??”

“Don’t hang up on me asshole!”

“Then get to the point because that is exactly what I am about to do.”

“You need to come to the bar to sign the prolonging of our lease,” Dee gets straight to the point in case the conversation abruptly ends again.

“Can’t Frank do it?”

“No. There is your name on the paper Dennis and if somebody else signs, they would have to make a new lease and negotiate new terms and that means they would ask for…”

“-more money,” her brother finishes her sentence. His voice is not revealing how he might feel about the situation but Dee is suspecting it doesn’t bother him too much.

She leans back in the office chair, hating herself for allowing Frank convince her that she should be the one calling Dennis. It doesn’t make a difference. He never listens to her. He wouldn’t come to Philly of only to piss her off.

“Yes, asshole. More money.”

“Sucks for you then.”

Now she is getting really irritated. Covering the speaker Dee mutters a silent _goddammit_ and places the phone back to her ear.

“Yeah well, just get your sorry ass here, okay?”

The second time Dee hears the deafening silence which tells her that the phone call was once again ended she doesn’t bother dialling Dennis’ number again. He doesn’t give a shit.

It is not that she cares deeply about the bar or how much Frank has to pay for renting the actual building since he owns the land already but if she wants to keep on stealing from the cash register it is in her best interested to make sure the bar doesn’t have any additional expenses. That will piss guys off. Frank will cut her off. Oh fuck you, Dennis, why couldn’t you leave a couple of weeks later.

 

**III.**

The night of the heist had an odd feeling about it. Like when everything is the same but there is a very minor difference you barely notice but the uncomfortable feeling it radiates is still too strong.

 Mac is sitting where he usually does, on passenger’s seat next to the driver. Rex is holding steering wheel despite the fact that the car isn’t moving anymore. The entire gang is dressed in black because that was the dress code for the night. Frank looks a lot like a hockey puck and Charlie is wearing a harness regardless of the fact that it will be most likely useless. Dee’s hair is awfully bright so the gang decides to let her stand on the street pretending to be a hooker and guarding. Rex is staying in the car and will help Dee in case she gets into trouble. At least that is what the gang told her to force her to agree with the plan.

Mac turns to who is now their designated driver and lowers his voice.

“Dude, you don’t have to do this. If you leave, I won’t hold it against you.”

Rex just chuckles and nods. He doesn’t say anything as usual so Mac drops it. He gets out of the car and follows Frank and Charlie. The liquor store is on the main street but they managed to find a back entrance which has a heavy lock hanging on it.

“Do it Frank. Do the picking.”

Charlie shuffles in his pockets and takes a flashlight out.

“Don’t rush me Charlie. This is a delicate thing,” Frank mutters as he adjusts his glasses.

“Can anybody tell me why we chose a blind guy to do this?” Mac asks standing next to Charlie, his arms crossed over his chest. Charlie is trying hard to keep the flashlight aimed at the lock but it seems that Frank’s burglar skills aren’t as good as he initially claimed.

“We don’t have time for this dude, let me just kick it open,” Mac suggests.

“Yeah Frank, this is not working. If I knew you are going to be like this I wouldn’t bother stealing that bobby pin from the waitress.”

Charlie fidgets on the place and the light in his hand points all directions as he moves, making the group look as noticeable as possible.

“Okay. I got this,” Frank says finally and the boys immediately think that he managed to open the lock but when Frank steps back the lock remains unchanged. What happens instead is that Frank reaches inside of his jacket and pulls out his gun from the inner pocket aiming it in front of him.

“Step back,” he orders.

“Oh my god dude! We said no guns! Somebody will hear it and call the cops. I’m pretty sure that they will notice a gunshot noise, Frank.” Mac flails his arms in a vain attempt to make his arguments more pressing.

“This is a trashy part of Philly, it is normal here!” Frank explains and points the gun at the lock. Without waiting for a reply he pulls the trigger and a gunshot noise is followed by the sound of metallic clank.

It takes both Charlie and Mac a while to realize that he indeed didn’t miss for maybe the first time in his life. Mac is the first one to come back to reality.

“Let’s go! Let’s move!” He urges the group inside the store. Very obviously the alarm starts ringing loud right away but the gang ignores it and starts stuffing bottles in the crate Mac brought anyway. Mac wonders how they would get out of this mess since it is straight up a crime. No blurred lines. Just crime.

Earlier that day Frank reassured him that it will only make him be ‘even’ with the owner and that he will understand but Mac strongly doubted it. However, he didn’t know enough about the law and Frank’s personal affairs to dispute his words.

“We must have touched the lasers,” Charlie yells through the noise, “this would never happen if I descended from the ceiling how I wanted.” His hands are occupied with stuffing the trash bag he brought with cheap box wine.

“Don’t worry Charlie. I got it covered.” Frank reissues him and takes out an ugly old jacket from his bag which smells like somebody soaked it in urine.

The scent is so bad that it whiffs across the store prompting Mac to turn to locate the source of the awful stench.

“Jesus dude gross. What is that?”

“That’s Cricket’s jacket. He forgot it in the bar. It is evidence and a message you know.”

“What message Frank? Piss us off or we piss on your clothes?” Mac is truly about to lose it but the crate he is holding is already full and heavy. They should bolt.

Just when the gang turns to flee the crime scene Dee appears in the front door, shaken and breathing heavily.

“Guys,” she starts breathily, “I think we really need to go. This old boner wanted me to blow him for $20 so I grabbed a brick from the pavement and sort of smacked him with it.”

“What the fuck Dee!” Mac yells thinking that they will surely end up in jail now. The silver lining is that maybe he will be finally able to bond with his dad.

“That’s a good price for you Deandra, you should have done it,” Frank nods seriously.

Charlie starts pushing everybody out of the store and within a moment they are all running towards the car. Mac is cursing under his breath until he spots the car in distance. So Rex didn’t leave.

“STAR THE CAR!!!” he yells out but Rex is already on it.

The car is running with the doors opened. Mac crams the crate full of alcohol to the trunk together with the trash bag full of cheap wine boxes Charlie took and sits next to Rex.

“Go! Go! Go!”

Tires screech on the pavement and the car rushes through the night streets of Philadelphia.

 

**IV.**

It is a wild night. All the free alcohol is vanishing way faster than what would be considered responsible drinking but it is so rare for the gang to actually pull off one of their schemes that it simply calls for a celebration. It is almost morning when Mac and drunk Rex by his side wobble to their apartment.

Mac has lived through worse. He feels dizzy and his senses are blurred but he’s been through worse. He can handle his booze. On the other hand, Rex seems to be completely out of it. There was no way he would be able to actually drive back to his apartment so walking to Mac’s was simply more reasonable.

There is something about his presence (and Mac thinks that maybe it is just his physique that he admires so much) that makes the night feel more wholesome. Like the hole in his chest is getting filled up one bit a time with the giant help of mr.alcohol and mr.beefcake by his side.

Rex basically clings and hangs on Mac’s shoulder at this point. Occasionally muttering and almost giggling something that Mac can’t understand. It would be a lie if he said that his mind is not wandering places that it probably shouldn’t now. His fingers look for the keys and when he finally finds them his hand raises it for Rex to see.

Rex nods and smiles. His cheeks are flustered from all the tequila and he leans it to crash on Mac’s mouth right there in the hallway in front of his apartment. Mac doesn’t flinch. He welcomes any distraction and the alcohol-induced kiss still tastes so sweet. No matter how many times he gets to kiss a guy it still makes him feel like it is the first time. So right and exciting.

He pushes against Rex, his tongue slipping through his lips just a little bit. Rex gets the hint and his arm around Mac’s neck which was so far only grabbing him for support pulls Mac closer. They shift and Mac’s back hits the door, keys still tangled in his fingers.

He can’t focus on anything when Rex opens his mouth more and kisses him deeper. Everything is even blurrier than before. Mac eventually tilts his head breaking the kiss. The weakness of his muscles and nausea in his stomach are painful reminders that he is simply too drunk to continue the make-out session or even end it in the bed.

Rex probably won’t remember half of it anyway and hooks up where you pretend that nothing happened are at this point just something which should stay in Mac’s past.

Both boys wobble into the apartment eventually and Rex immediately heads for the bedroom where he crashes loudly on the bed. Mac closes the door gently, leaving only a small crack open just in case.

He kicks his shoes off and pulls his clothes off hastily throwing them on the floor. It is a mess but he doesn’t care. His body touches the couch and remembers nothing else.

* * *

 

Maybe it is a morning or afternoon, what is time anyway. Maybe a week passed since Dennis left and maybe it was a month. Mac doesn’t know. His sleep is restless and his hungover bad but it is not the gnawing feeling in his stomach that wakes him up. It is a sound of keys rattling in the door and creaking sound of the hinges moving.

“This place is a shithole. Mac wake up!!”

Oh, that familiar voice. Is he dreaming of Dennis again? Ah, so sweet, so comforting. Maybe this time he will let him go all the way. It is a dream anyway. He might as well do it.

“Are you even listening to me. Wake up.”

But then hand touches his shoulder and that is simply too much stimulation to sleep through. His body jolts awake quickly, sitting up, sending him into a whirl of nausea and shock.

“Dennis!”


	2. Chapter 2

**i.**

“Charlie, are you sure you know what you are doing?” Dee’s hands are crossed over her chest her orange hair wrapped into a small bun on top of her head, probably to minimalize the damage.

Charlie mixes something most likely awfully toxic in what used to be a cooking pot and looks up.

“I know how to mix bleach, Dee. Thank you. If you kindly let me work.”

Dee doesn’t feel confident about it but it seems like a better option than to go outside where people can see her. What was she thinking dying her hair in a first place? Fortunately, Charlie seemed pretty eager to help her out of this jam. There has always been certain softness she felt towards Charlie but very repressed one. There is no way she could ever allow herself to let it bubble up again. Guys would never let her live it down and it would ruin the gang. The gang no matter how bad is all she has but in the moments like these where Charlie does something to help her or hangs out with her without any ulterior motive it is hard to be harsh.

She steps closer anyway to inspect how is the liquid turning out. It’s light blue and smells atrocious. Charlie dips his finger into it and licks it.

“Oh my god can you stop eating chemicals Charlie,” she whines again and leans her hand on the kitchen counter.

“Why are you always like this? Don’t drink paint, Charlie! Don’t eat chemicals Charlie, stop huffing the glue, Charlie. I am fine! I got this.” Charlie sniffs some bottle and pours a little bit more of the developer into the pot.

Dee frowns losing her patience once again. Charlie is awfully often in her apartment lately because he needs to avoid the waitress. She can deal with it but there is no way her apartment is going to turn into a stinky meth lab. She let Dennis and Mac get away with too much and she is not going to make the same mistake twice.

It is almost like the universe is against her being on her own. Having nice quiet time just by herself. She, a kind soul, offers her home to her good for nothing friends and all she gets back is bickering and insults? Hell no.

“Maybe because I don’t want to wake up one day and find your corpse on my floor!” she snaps back and swats on Charlie’s hand that is heading to the cooking pot again.

“Why would you find a corpse? Nobody will murder me.” Charlie looks at her confused like he has already forgotten they were talking about his nasty substance abuse habits.

“I don’t think you will get murdered dum dum, I think you might accidentally poison yourself one day.”

“Pft. Nah.” Charlie shrugs dismissively like she just said the most ridiculous thing but doesn’t taste the bleach again. At least not in front of Dee.

_Baby steps Sweet Dee. Baby steps._

**ii.**

Dennis didn’t expect anything other than to find his apartment just as messy at it is but that didn’t stop him from giving his sleeping friend condescending looks. Of course, he is hopeless without him. Shirts and other pieces of clothing are scattered all over the floor. A couple of bottles of Johnny Walker spilt their contents on the rug. Woah that is an expensive booze. When did Mac upgrade from cheap vodka and tequila to something like that?

He steps closer to look at Mac and only shakes his head. He looks so much like a grown-up dog sometimes. Slobbering all over the armrest of the couch.

It takes a couple of tries to wake him up but eventually Mac jolts awake, his hair heading all directions, eye bags extremely obvious under his unnaturally round and kind eyes. He looks so ridiculous.

Dennis walks around the place, carefully observing what has changed since he left. Almost nothing. That’s good. Occasionally he glances behind him to check how is Mac’s getting up progressing. He is sitting on the couch, seemingly nervous (must be from seeing Dennis again after so much time), fidgeting with his fingers.

“I didn’t know you will come,” he finally speaks with a hoarse voice like he has been yelling whole night before.

“I didn’t plan it but Dee was blasting my ass with her annoying phone calls. What a bitch.”

“Oh.”

There is a hint of disappointment present in Mac’s voice that Dennis expected. It is so easy to read Mac. He wears his heart on his sleeve and simply deludes himself into seeing what he wants to see. Whenever that illusion crashes (which is always) he creates another delusion to cover it up. Dennis can see right through him. At least that’s what he thinks.

His eyes scanned the living room enough. He left most of his stuff behind in Philly and can’t help but to be a little bit glad it has moved nowhere. Those are not even his actual possessions but replicas Mac got so he shouldn’t even care.

Small duffle bag which contains mostly his cosmetics and a couple of shirts starts to feel heavy on Dennis’ shoulder. He instinctively turns towards the door of his room and casually walks forward to drop his stuff off.

Now Mac actually wakes up. He stands up from the couch, swaying a little bit, trying to find the balance of his body and not throw up in the process.

“Dennis-” he speaks but his stomach protests against the sudden movement and Mac’s hand shifts to cover his mouth. He breathes deeply to get over nausea so Dennis ignores him.

Dennis’ hand opens the door but he doesn’t walk in. There is somebody else occupying his bed. A body so muscular and … naked?

“Who is that?” he asks plainly his index finger pointing inside the room.

So Mac is dragging boys into his room now. Into his bed? Why doesn’t he get his own bed when he wants to play a slut hotel so bad? Uncommon and uncomfortable nausea hits Dennis’ stomach as well. It surely must be from seeing Mac gag before.

He doesn’t like this sight one bit. Firstly, it is not even humanly possible to be this ripped so this dude has to be on steroids which are unhealthy as shit and Mac should keep himself far away from it. Secondly, it is almost four o’clock in the afternoon so why didn’t Mac get up and kick his one night stand out already.

Dennis feels incredibly annoyed and irritated by this entire situation but he makes sure his face doesn’t show any of it.

“That’s Rex. We… he helped the gang yesterday with a scheme so we got little bit uh trashed afterwards.” Mac says softly, his fingers interlinked together.

Dennis hates it. Mac always does this when there is something he wants to say but is too much of a coward to actually do it. He closes the door carefully not to wake Rex up because he really doesn’t want to deal with him today too and turns back to his former roommate.

“Trashed?”

“You know like drunk.”

“I know what _trashed_ means Mac.”

Mac either finally gets over his wonky stomach or he gathers some courage because he steps closer yanking Dennis’ duffel bag from his shoulder.

“I’ll kick him out,” Mac says smiling like he finally made the decision about whatever he wanted to initially say. ”He just drove us last night and he really wanted to stay here for the night. We owed him man so what was I supposed to do. We can’t have a beef with the dude too you know, we have been lacking cars lately and he’s really decent driver…”

Mac keeps on yammering but Dennis can only focus on the unpleasant feeling in his stomach. _Why is he naked Mac?_ He thinks but doesn’t ask. Instead, he says:

“You know what, I don’t care.”

He needs to leave the situation immediately. At least until Mac cleans the place a little bit and makes his room available. Dennis doesn’t reach to get his bag back and walks towards the front door. He speaks making sure his voice sounds as nonchalant as possible even though Mac notices how much effort it has cost him.

“I’m going to the bar. Clean it up here, I’m staying for the night.”

Mac lowers his shoulders and drops the bag by his side. His body flinches when Dennis smacks the door after he leaves the apartment. This is not how he imagined their reunion will go and he thought of it often. It wasn’t until Charlie told him that he needs to focus on the present and on the gang or he will go mad. It was true, he was right so Mac made sure he is not going to daydream about Dennis and he just assumed his best friend misses him just as much. Similarly to how he always assumed deep in their hearts, his parents love him so much. Because there is no other way right? When you live with somebody for decades you simply have to miss them once you leave.

His hand runs through his hair, slicking it back but because of the lack of product, it just floofs back up.

Mac is gentler with “ _kicking Rex out_ ” than what he tells the gang later.

 

**iii.**

Dee’s hangover is a long time gone when Dennis enters the bar. She can’t help but raise her eyebrows when his lanky frame shows up.

“Look at what cats dragged in,” she jokes while leaning down to pick a beer for herself and maybe her brother too. If she feels generous enough.

“Shut up Dee. I am here for twenty minutes and I’m already annoyed.”

The cranky attitude of her twin is only amusing but Dee doesn’t provoke further. She opens the beer bottle instead and hands it to Dennis.

“You came to sign the documents?”

Dennis looks at her confused, his eyebrows arched and eyes squinted. Does he have no idea what is she talking about? She called him literally only three days ago.

“The lease?” She offers an explanation and leans closer to check if he is high. It is possible. It is Dennis after all. Besides a couple of heavily concealed wrinkles, she doesn’t see anything suspicious.

“Oh. Yes. That’s why I came.” Dennis raises the beer to his mouth but his eyes stay locked on Dee’s face.

“Right. So how is North Dakota treating you? You haven’t been texting, it’s been nice.”

“Everything is fine. Junior’s great.”

_He is miserable._

Dee knows her brother more than anybody. She always craved his attention and hated it at the same time but when Dennis Reynolds says he is fine then that means he is absolutely not fine. The Reynolds game is for two players though. Dee drinks her beer, not saying anything except a small nod that tells Dennis all he needs to know.

“Are you jealous? Are you jealous Deandra that I am thriving?”

“Oh, I’m sure you are.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you have been up to. I see you dyed your hair strawberry blonde. Tragic.”

Dee wonders what Dennis would think if he had seen her orange hair? He would mock her. That’s for sure. Fortunately, Charlie was as good at bleaching as he said he is and after a couple of more sessions she is going to be back blonde.

“Just for your information, we got some free booze the other night. And preeeeety high-quality one.”

Dennis tries very hard to keep his cool but Dee is getting to him. Dennis doesn’t want to hear how good is the gang doing without him and his sister knows it. That is also why she is going to tell him all about it.

“It worked out so smooth, so well. You know Mac’s new boyfriend drove us and unlike you, he didn’t yell the entire time about how we are idiots.”

That’s it. Dennis stands up from his chair, hands leaning on the bar. He files Dee’s words carefully to his personal dossier of his mind. The moment he opens his mouth to say something Charlie walks in with his rat bashing stick, comfortably lounging on his shoulder.

“Heeey buddy!” He screams and snaps Dennis out of his inner frustration. At least somebody seems genuinely excited to see him.

“Charlie.”

Charlie sits down and leans over the bar to grab one beer for himself.

“What’s up, man! I didn’t know you are going to show up.”

Dennis lowers himself back on the bar stool and turns to face Charlie. He can’t look at his sister right now.

“Just to sign some bullshit for Frank. I’ll be gone in no time.” He can’t help himself but glance at Dee when he says the word ‘ **gone** ’ but she only raises her eyebrows. _That bitch._

“Ah really? We should hang out until then. Too bad we all got so hammered last night I don’t think I can handle more than a couple of beers without puking.”

Dennis ignores most of what Charlie says. He doesn’t want to think about their successful scheme.

“Sure. Dee was just telling me about Mac’s new dude.”

“Oh? Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t see him often, to be honest.”

Irritation and the tensed tingling feeling spread through Dennis’ body as he doesn’t get the information he needs.

“You don’t know WHAT Charlie? That sentence makes no sense.”

Charlie doesn’t get bothered though.

“I mean I don’t know if he is ‘ _his dude’_.”

Dee speaks up trying to suppress the grin on her face.

“Oh, he is. They are together all the time. Those hickeys didn’t just appear on Mac’s neck.”

 

**iv.**

North Dakota is cold. Dennis’ job is fine. Mandy is fine. Junior is great. But he feels extremely empty anyway. He always felt that way, it is not new to him but this time it got somehow worse. But he takes his pills he pays his bills and looks decent while doing so. Of course, he gets blackout drunk more often than would be healthy but in the grand scheme of things that is fine. He is doing well. That is what he tells himself every day and every night and pushes through. And if it doesn't work, he finds a dude gets some coke and then pushes through.

It is only when Dee calls when everything crumbles like a house of cards. The first time he hears her voice he has to hang up the phone just to get himself a little bit of time to collect himself. Sometimes he replies to one of Mac’s texts (Charlie’s  are only emojis and he doesn’t have the energy for that). But he hasn’t spoken to any member of the gang properly for almost two months.

Then Dee says she needs him to come to Philly and he puts the phone down and takes a deep breath just so he could be irrationally angry with her once she calls back.

Dennis doesn’t admit it to himself but he has been looking for a reason to come to Philly like a crack addict looks for another dose. He doesn’t even drink that night. He only thinks what plane ticket he can get the soonest.

Then on the plane, he thinks about the gang. The bunch of worm sucking idiots he hates so much but who were the only people who understood him. It is so hard to find new friends. Why are people so awful? Why don't people get him? It is a miserable life. The microclimate of Paddy’s made him feel safe and whole and the further he goes the more he falls apart.

He scrolls through his phone and reads the texts mac sent him over those two months. There are couple embarrassing drunken ones but the rest is just asking how is he, hoping that he is well, say hi to junior from me, dee is so dumb, omg look what Charlie found in sewers etc. He has to ignore them because they simply bring up too much. After while Mac barely texted but he never truly stopped either.

Dennis misses the comfort and the always present love that Mac radiates whenever he is around. Of course, he doesn’t love Mac, he thinks, but it makes him feel good to have him around. He never thought how sad and lonely it will be to be deprived of that. But that is only because he is full of himself and he deserves that kind of treatment. It has nothing to do with Mac. Mac is so stupid and annoying.

Once the plane lands Dennis tells himself something he’s been telling himself awfully lot while living in North Dakota.

_Don’t think about Mac._


End file.
